Technology Lab 2016 Module 3 Slides

1. YOUR ILS
TIPS, TRICKS AND BEST PRACTICES

2. BUT FIRST - BROWSERS
• Quick Review
• Thoughts on the content?
• Questions?
• Time to start scheduling one-on-one sessions with Dan or I…

3. GOALS FOR THIS MODULE
• Given the Koha ILS, you will be able to:
• find patrons and items in the staff side of the ILS.
• find items, log in and find information about their account as well as
teach others how to do the same in the OPAC side of the ILS
• identify the best practices for creating new patron cards, checking books
in and out and performing work duties using that ILS.

4. STAFF SIDE OF KOHA – FINDING THINGS
• Multiple ways to do anything
• Search bar at top
• Menu items (Patron, circulation, etc.)
• Searching for Patrons
• Look for minimum amount of information
• Read through patron data to confirm matches *carefully*
• Searching for Items
• Coming soon – ability to limit by library on staff side

6. STAFF SIDE OF KOHA – EDITING THINGS
• Patron edits – edit button on patron info screen
• Patrons can now change their own password, will soon be able to use
“forgot password” functionality from catalog
• Everything else, we change for them
• Item edits
• Copy cataloging – beyond scope of this week
• http://libguides.nekls.org/copy-cataloging-webinar - start here

7. THE OPAC
• Best practice – use it as much as possible
• Best practice – teach it to at least one person a week til you run
out of people to teach
• Facets and limits
• Advanced searching

9. BEST PRACTICES
• Download and pass around George’s BP document from Moodle
Class site
• Highlights:
• Check the screen. Always. Without fail.
• Search for patron *before* creating a new account. Don’t let Joe-Bob get
away with it!
• Standard formats – XXX-XXX-XXXX, for example
• Be generous with notes when adding/dealing with fines
• Apply advanced search options first, then search
• Limits are only as good as the person entering them, and that person is